What Did They Tweet?

Video: PLNs

On the @livesofteachers’ blog you will find this excellent video describing PLNs, Personal Learning Networks – the What, Why and How. In this video, Darren Elliot discusses the theory behind PLNs and defines the term. This is one of the best presentations I have seen about PLNs and I encourage you to share this with those new to PLNs.

Video: Social Media is Going Away

In this video clip, @JeffPulver discusses the future of social media. His thoughts made me reflect on social media. Jeff says, “Really what we are seeing is the evolution of communication. As a society we will feel the effects of hyper-communication.” Several of my friends have already expressed this. What do you think?

TED Talk

@Sywtt featured two incredible TED videos in his post, Trials Turn To Gold. As we think about the Olympics and gold medals, we think about personal heroes and how many of the athletes inspire us. In this video, an inspirational person, discusses her physical disabilities and how to cope with adversity. I encourage you to read his response to the video and see the second TED video as well.

What was your best find on Twitter this week?

Shelly Sanchez Terrell is a teacher trainer, instructional designer, adjunct professor, and the author of The 30 Goals Challenge for Teachers: Small Steps to Transform Your Teaching and Learning to Go: Lesson Ideas for Teaching with Mobile Devices, Cell Phones and BYOT. She has been recognized by the ELTon Awards, The New York Times, the Ministry of Education in Spain, and Microsoft’s Heroes for Education as an innovator in the movement of teacher-driven professional development and education technology. Recently, she was named Woman of the Year 2014 by Star Jone’s National Association of Professional Women and awarded a Bammy Award as a founder of #Edchat, the Twitter chat that spurred over 400 teacher chats. She has trained teachers and taught learners in over 25 countries and has consulted with organizations worldwide such as UNESCO Bangkok, The European Union aPLaNet Project, Cultura Iglesa of Brazil, the British Council in Tel Aviv, IATEFL Slovenia, HUPE Croatia, and VenTESOL. She shares regularly via TeacherRebootCamp.com, Twitter (@ShellTerrell), and Facebook.com/shellyterrell. Her greatest joy is being the mother of Rosco the pug.

Thanks for your kind words Shelly. I saw a lot of PLN videos when I was preparing this presentation and what worries me is that there is sometimes a lack of criticality. First of all, there is little attention paid to the non-online nodes and vectors which remain absolutely vital to a functioning learning network. It seems that the PLN has become synonymous with web based social networking for some, which is terribly limiting.

If I am honest the effect of my online PLN on my classroom practice is generally minimal, or at least very indirect. It does give me a chance to find and practice new technologies before I use them with students (my student blogging is the one thing that has been directly informed by my online PLN practice). But other than that? At this stage in my career, the biggest dangers are boredom or burnout, and that is the number one reason I am online. To reflect through writing, to stay engaged, to feel validated by the approval of others.

For new teachers, especially those isolated geographically, the connectivity offered by online PLN’s can be a wonderful crutch. But I still urge them to cultivate face to face networks as the most effective way to improve daily classroom practice.